Pyongyang, December 21 (KCNA) -- Leader Kim Jong Il was the father of the nation, peerless patriot and outstanding leader who performed immortal feats in the cause of the country's reunification with his great patriotic devotion since he embarked on the sacred road of the struggle for the country and the nation.

Rodong Sinmun Wednesday says this in a bylined article.

Kim Jong Il was always with President Kim Il Sung in the efforts for national reunification, considering it his greatest duty to allay the cares of the President who could hardly get to sleep, because of the protracted pain resulting from the national split, the article notes, and goes on:

He comprehensively systematized the immortal feats the President performed in the cause of the country's reunification and formulated the three principles of national reunification, the ten-point programme of the great national unity and the proposal for founding the Democratic Federal Republic of Koryo as the three charters for national reunification. This reflected his iron will to carry forward the cause of national reunification of the President 100 per cent and accomplish the country's reunification the way he did.

Scientific and realistic ideas and policies for national reunification set forth by Kim Jong Il in every period and at every stage, his indefatigable enthusiasm, ardent patriotic will, indomitable spirit and outstanding leadership served as an engine that made it possible for the movement for the country's reunification to firmly preserve its Juche-oriented character and victoriously advance despite of the U.S. imperialists' persistent moves to perpetuate the national division and to stifle the DPRK.

At the turn of a new century Kim Jong Il provided the historic north-south joint declaration, a milestone for the country's reunification in the 21st century. This immortal feat put the inter-Korean relations which repeated the vicious cycle of antagonism and confrontation on an orbit of harmony and reunification and also gave a strong spurs to the overall reunification movement.

His ardent love for the nation and noble virtues ushered in a new epoch of the great national unity.

It is necessary to more dynamically advance the movement for the country's reunification by carrying forward the ideas of the President and Kim Jong Il and the immortal feats performed by the peerlessly great persons. This is a sure guarantee for victory.

All the Koreans should stage a nation-wide struggle upholding the June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration as a great reunification programme and thus accomplish the historic cause of the country's reunification at any cost and translate into reality the lifelong desires of the President and Kim Jong Il for reunification without fail.